“God and spirit is not another worldly belief in fate, luck, chance, or coincidence. It is practical, reliable way to make sense of the real world, find peace in the midst of turmoil, and discover hope and joy.”

The questions about God have occupied our minds for centuries in one form or another. What is God? Does He really exist? Why do we search for God? Do religions really believe in the same God? Why are there religious wars? Such questions have been asked over and over again by humanity as such and by individual beings at different stages of their lives. The mythology of God has created its own history. Human society changed from hunter gatherers to farmers with the invention of agriculture. The female God was replaced by the male God and violence was introduced in the name of religion. Instead of searching for God that is tangled up with violence and survival, today we should search for God of spirituality.

“With SPIRITUALITY come Morality and does what's right. Spiritual people are not God-Less but honor the God in all of us”

Religions and prophets have been preaching about God for centuries, and millions of people have developed faith in their concept. The revolution of science and technology in this century has forced many of us to reevaluate the doctrines and tenets received through our religious traditions. Should we believe in creation or should we believe in evolution? Should we believe in heaven and His court of justice when we look up in the sky or should we believe in the space, the planets, and the galaxies up there? I hope this write-up will provide a fresh insight into the mysteries about God -- and leave us wiser, peaceful, and enlightened. Rather than underscore the conflict between religion and science and point to their mutual exclusivity, we need to unravel the strands in both and see the extent to which one augments the other.

The concept of God has practical value, for the new generation of science and technology and people of 21st century, only if we are prepared to interiorize that concept in a unique manner. A scientist may find it difficult to believe that some wise old man or woman sitting up in heaven is keeping track of everything; because “God does not micromanage our actions.” But the same scientist can't deny the incredible awareness and intelligence that exists in life, in nature, and in us. It's being a scientist that makes us spiritual and believer.

God is no more a theoretical concept that had been preached by most religions. For the new generation of 21st century, we should be able to experience. This is the essential part of being a religious today. Meeting God, having vision, living with God 24 hours a day; that is what being a religious is all about. The God is not in church or mosque or temple or gurdwara only that appears every Sunday. God is also not sitting somewhere in the sky watching our actions. The God is in us, the God is in congregation. “If we can’t see God in all, we can’t see God at all.” We need scriptures that can teach us all humans are capable of achieving union with God while still alive by realizing the Divine within. We want to become one with God and experience it.

We need scriptures, where god-realization teaches merger of soul (atma) with supreme soul/God (parmatma) and salvation (Jeewan Muktee). In such realization there is no heaven/no hell per se. All those are on this earth; and not separate places such as patal (netherworlds) and agas (sky) which has been misinterpreted as particular places by many theologians.

We need scriptures like Guru Granth Sahib where Sikh Gurus and other contributors have defined God as Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Transcendental (Nirgun), Immanent (Sargun), creator, loving, kind, compassionate, caring, and in various other ways.

We humans are the only species in the animal kingdom who are blessed with an analytical capacity and logic. We possess the only nervous system that is aware of the phenomenon of God, soul, reincarnation, hell, and heaven. Many of us question the existence of God we have known through religion and history! Is God a creation of our own mind that is influenced by the environment? For example, most of those who grow up in a communist world, do not believe in God. Could God be an "idea" depending on the climate, the environment, and the tradition in which we have been brought up? Does God exist for us humans only-- the only species known to have a mind which fosters ideas?

Because the concept of God helps many of us deal with ups and downs in life and keep the mind tranquil, could we be using the concept of God mainly to deal with life-crises. I hope this write-up can provide a meaningful understanding of the questions we have raised here and many more that occupy our mind as well as a personalized answer to the questions which will conform to our nature as both rational and religious human beings.

Our purpose is not to create a new religion, sect or movement, but to understand the concept of God, which constitutes the spiritual basis of living. Such understanding will put us on a road to love and happiness irrespective of our faith.

In understanding God and Spirit, mind, in the way we use the word, is not just thought. It includes our emotions as well as all unconscious mental-emotional reactive patterns. Emotion arises at the place where mind and body meet. It is the body's reaction to your mind - or you might say a reflection of your mind in the body. "Spirituality is defined as the self, connected (by consciousness/energy) to The Higher Power. We are all part of the One Spirit. When one experiences the true meaning of spirituality, which is to know God, you will realize that He is your Self, and that He exists equally and impartially in all beings.

The Self is the knower, the observer, and the witness. It sees everything and not seen by the seer. Our awareness of Being is consciousness. The body has no awareness of its own if it were not pervaded by consciousness; it would be just a lump of flesh. The mind has no awareness of its own and does not even have true intelligence. The mind can only think and doubt. It has beliefs, opinions, likes, dislikes but is not aware of anything. Awareness and true intelligence exist within the SELF". Ego, Intellect and Senses are barriers to Spirituality: "When the five senses are stilled and thinking has ceased, when the intellect does not stir, in between two thoughts, then one can enjoy the tranquility of mind and reaches the highest state of spirituality". The real spiritual experience is so profound that it wholly transforms the character of the individual.

Unlike God in Semitic religions, “God of Spirituality” has no devils and evil. God is loving, kind, compassionate, caring, and omnipresent. The realization of “God of Spirituality” does not support the concept of God who punishes his creation for perceived sins and bad karma. Therefore, there is no doctrine of karma in any fatalistic or deterministic sense".

"Why God is a Mystery"? Just as a bird flying in the infinite space does not leave any marks behind, similarly, God does not leave any footprints in the material world! God is Omnipresent but remains a 'Concept God', invisible to devotees: God is everywhere, in every atom of the visible and invisible Cosmos as a Power of evolution and involution. Thus the Universe itself is unfolding out of its own essence beyond the reach of our limited senses. There is no absolute proof of the presence of the Absolute, Infinite God. God cannot be confined within the limits of the finite experience of our limited body-mind-intellect apparatus. It will continue as a mystery unless we try to understand the laws of nature in light of scientific knowledge.

God is not a logical proposition: you cannot prove it by logic; you cannot disprove it by logic. Logic is utterly irrelevant to God. God is an idea in theology, though we try to make it a reality. Science makes it real, because universal energy is real and in science god is accepted as universal energy or all powerful God.

There is one Universal energy that we can call God, Allah, Ram, Parmatma, Hari, Lord of the Universe, Nature or any other name we choose. That energy is constant; it can neither be created nor destroyed. However, this energy can convert into matter and matter can convert back into energy. Therefore, everything is created out of this energy and goes back into this energy. All matter is a form created from formless Energy, and the creativity is infinite and method of self-creativity is a real wonder when we look at the creation and growth of living organisms. A scientist cannot deny the feeling of being startled at Nature's absolutely phenomenal and the most intelligent work of self-creation into all the complicated life forms including a human being through a greatly thoughtful and organized manner. This reminds me Albert Einstein when he said: " God does not play dice with the world." We may rephrase the above revelation that “The Creator is in the Creation, and the Creation is in the Creator.” That’s why it is impossible to see God, because He resides in us. Since we and God are one, we obviously can't see God, just as, for instance, an eye cannot see itself. This is like individual waves are part of the same ocean or individual rays are part of the same Sun. That is the ultimate truth.

The one who realizes this truth have no enmity. Because we are created from the same source. That’s why "If we don't see God in all, we cannot see God at all." If we don't see others as an enemy, then there is also no fear. Fear is the product of others. One who realizes this truth is not only without enmity and fear, but is not afraid of getting old or of dying young. Also not afraid of reincarnation or hell or heaven. But such realization comes only to few who are blessed and try hard to realize this truth. That’s what is realization of God.

Another way to look at the same point of view is: Many of us have been asking what is God: "We spend too much time in believing what we don't know. Those who believe in God; God is the very core of our being, it is like peeling an onion and reaching that central nothingness, which is God. The whole is God." The universe and God are one. There is no remainder in the mathematics of infinity. All life is one; therefore, there cannot be God and man, nor a universe and God. A god not in the world is a false god, and a world not in God is unreal. All things return to one, and one operates in all.

"God is neither Human Statue nor any Religion God. God is the Electromagnetic pulse of energy that gives life and lives within all."

That is why God and spiritual man including all the prophets and saints may represent reflections of God. This metaphor/simile may help us understand. God is one like a moon. However, there may be numerous reflections of moon in pitchers full of water. We are like water pitchers representing reflections. When a pitcher breaks down the reflection is gone but moon is there. Just like this metaphor God is real and immortal but we including prophets come and go (because material aspect of energy is not permanent). Therefore no prophet is God. Because God is one and only one who is neither born nor dies. That is why we can say that God does not come in anthropomorphic form.

Reference: “IN SEARCH OF GOD: God Of Spirituality”